1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of law enforcement and force protection equipment employed by S.W.A.T. teams and A.T. (Anti-Terrorism) military personnel in the functions of protecting the public, assets, or themselves while preserving the peace. More particularly, a wireless, self contained information gathering unit and system (IGS) designed to effect numerous tactical, information gathering tasks, such as remote intrusion detection, under vehicle and trunk inspections, tactical surveillance from a safe stand-off distance, remote identification recording and entrance documentation, at-night evidence gathering at crime scenes, radiological element detection, search and rescue operations and many other stand-off related, remote viewing and information gathering scenarios. In addition, the system is equipped with a microphone for remote audio surveillance and full audio and video documentation for use at crime scenes, emergency response and arrest documentation. When used by fire departments, the described invention becomes a threat and risk assessment aid as well as a means of providing rescue crews an advantage by extending sight and sound capabilities, way beyond the norm such as might be needed in collapsed buildings or fire restricted areas as well as providing an audio-visual communication link to rescue persons trapped who can be given the IGS unit to use to communicate, but cannot be gotten to yet to be freed.
2. Background of the Invention
Development of special equipment such as the present invention, (IGS system) has grown out of the need for law enforcement and military personnel to respond to critical, usually manmade, emergencies such as hostage taking, terrorist infiltration and attacks and a multitude of other real-life, critical situations that need to be responded to by specialists, with specialized equipment, in order to, neutralize the situation or minimize loss after a situation has unfolded. Current domestic law enforcement use of special weapons and tactics originated with the first Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) Unit which consisted of 15 four-man teams. Members of each team, who volunteered from the ranks of patrol and other police assignments, had specialized experience and prior military service. Each unit was activated for monthly training or when the need for special weapons personnel actually arose. These units, known as “station defense teams,” provided security for police facilities during civil unrest. In 1983, the Los Angeles Police Department sent three S.W.A.T. supervisors to Europe to evaluate and develop the techniques employed by military groups such as the German GSG-9, French GIGN and the legendary British 22nd SAS. A rigorous and difficult training program was implemented with one objective—to develop a true hostage rescue capability within the LAPD S.W.A.T. Team. Since the advent of the domestic hostage rescue skill, the LAPD S.W.A.T. Team has rescued dozens of hostages and currently handles approximately 80 barricaded suspect incidents and 50 high-risk warrants a year. After the terrorist attacks of September 11th, S.W.A.T. teams across the have had to reorganize to thwart possible terrorist attacks and have become A.T. (anti-terrorism) teams as well as S.W.A.T teams, requiring them to develop new tactics and seek out new equipment for handling new types of terrorist risks and life threatening situations. The present invention has been fully reviewed and endorsed by A.T. (antiterrorism) and F.P. (force protection) security personnel from many Govt. agencies such as NASA, DHS, TSA U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, Charlotte, N.C. S.W.A.T. team and others, with a very positive support for it's use and implementation. Indeed, with it's truly diverse tactical uses, as well as A.T. counter-measures that provides instant remote viewing, remote stealth detection, remote night vision surveillance, remote first responder footage review in real-time by offsite government agencies, remote audio listening and situation debriefing, remote sound detection as well as with many other features and uses, along with it's rugged design and excellent thermal and weather proofing features, the present invention is truly a innovation that fits, not only right in to the traditional S.W.A.T. arsenal for S.W.A.T scenarios, but also provides for many new tactical countermeasure procedures needed by the A.T. and FP (force protection) world of the 21st century. The system also equipped with a radiological, detector is an excellent tool for law enforcement officials to use to detect dirty bombs, a new threat in today's world.